Saturday, June 2, 2012

31st May 2012

Today I wandered across the London Bridge to see a few things including a tour of the Globe. The bridge itself is nothing special, so much so it seems I didn't even take and photos of the bridge itself. The tide seems to have been in when I walked up to the bridge so below is a photo of a staircase that leads to the beach at low tide.

Woo Shakespeare's Globe Theater! Ok it's not the real Globe and maybe I should have looked into the history of the Globe a bit before going. Oh well, it's interesting none the less. Much of this Globe's design is based on period drawings and the finds from the excavation of the Rose theater which was very close to the Globe and slightly older. Neither theater remains standing. The Globe was constructed in 1990 from 1000 oak trees all crafted by hand with no power tools or anything that was unavailable in the 1500s. On the stage while I was on my tour was a German play company rehearsing a modern play. I think that even if I could have understood what they were saying I still would have been confused by all the oddness that was going on on stage.

From the Globe I went to the 'London Bridge and London Tombs Experience' which was very much not my thing. It was a very tacky 'horror' experience. It was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting a tour through the history of the bridge and an explanation of the tombs. Instead I got smoke machines, dark rooms, plastic limbs hanging from the roof, over the top acting and people jumping out at me in the dark. It was a waste of time.

Then I went onto the Winston Churchill Britain at War Experience. This experience was actually a museum and a recreated underground bunker (made to look like the London underground) with footage playing that had diary entries being read over it. It was interesting but it didn't really live up to it's name of the best World War II museum in Europe.

I made my way back across the bridge and started heading back towards Trafalgar square to go see the household cavalry museum. I got sick of walking however and was just tired. I decided to stop at the first pub I came across which was called 'Walkabout' it's an Aussie themed pub that does roo meat things as well as normal beef and chicken burgers. I had a burger and a pint on the cheap and a good sit down while catching up on my diary and abusing their wireless on my phone to check facebook. It was nice to just have a bit of a relax before getting back into it.

I made it to the museum just before 4pm. The nice lady inside suggested I go watch the inspection outside before coming through the museum. It was really interesting just watching the inspection take place. Going through the museum was a good reminder or wake up call that these boys in red are not actors, they are not wearing costumes. They are real soldiers wearing real uniforms. The ideas behind continuing the ceremony were really interesting. By having to take care of a horse and their uniform the young men become more responsible, learn dedication and get good at working with other people (it can take up to 10 hours to clean all their kit).

I walked through the back of the yard and into St James Park. Where a man was feeding two squirrels. OMG they are soooo cute.

The park is really nice with all its green and tall trees. Afterwards I made my way to the North of London. I had a few drinks with Kev and Tash then crashed out early.